The present invention relates to a housing for personal computer cards (PC cards), especially PCMCIA cards, including a printed circuit board that is inserted into a plastic frame and fastened thereto.
From German Offenlegungsschrift 44 28 717 a housing for a personal computer card is known in which the printed circuit board is arranged between two frame halves that are connected to one another by interlocking grooves forming a snap connection and after assembly of the PC card, secures the printed circuit board without any further fastening means such as adhesives, fusing, or other time consuming or complicated connecting procedures or systems. This housing is comprised preferably of stainless steel in order to provide the required stiffness and stability as well as to provide an electrically conducting, shielding enclosure for the electronic components. The disadvantage of this design is that with such a steel housing alone a secure fixation of the printed circuit board within the housing is impossible. In practice, the printed circuit board is therefore first inserted into a plastic frame which is then enclosed in the outer metal casing in order to provide for an effective enclosure of the printed circuit board in the housing with the required stiffness and stability while providing secure fixation over the entire service life.
The secure fastening of the printed circuit board within the plastic frame is, in general, achieved by using an adhesive. For this purpose, the plastic frame has in cross-section an L-shaped receiving member for the printed circuit board to which during the manufacturing process a suitable adhesive is applied. Subsequently, the printed circuit board is placed onto the L-shaped receiving member from above and, after curing of the adhesive, the printed circuit board with the attached plastic frame is then introduced into the aforementioned metal housing. A disadvantage of this design is that the application of the adhesive is complicated, that the applied adhesive is prone to soiling by binding dust, and, when the adhesive is applied carelessly, the electronic function may be impeded. Furthermore, this manufacturing process is technically complicated and time-consuming. Due to the increased need for portable computers, such as notebooks, the requirements with regard to the manufacture of electronic auxiliary storage devices in the form of PC cards have become more demanding. Such storage devices are to be inserted into a port and connected with a plug-in connection to the computer whereby, depending on the design of the electronic configuration, different expansion slots must be provided for the portable computer.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to eliminate the aforementioned disadvantages and to provide a simple possibility for introducing a printed circuit board into a plastic frame and to exactly position the printed circuit board therein without having to use an adhesive or a mechanical connection by rivets or screws. It should also be possible to remove the printed circuit board, if desired, from the plastic frame in order to provide an exchangeable printed circuit board so that when the printed circuit board is damaged, for example, when a faulty soldering joint is present, it is no longer necessary to exchange and dispose of the entire PC card.